Murder In Spring
by Ultra Drama Queen
Summary: MFoMT Fic: Someone in Mineral Town has been murdered! Who could have done something so heartless? Told from Popuri's POV. Please Read and Review! Thanks! Yay you if you do! Chapter 5 up! Rated K plus for death and extreamly mild language.
1. Murder at the Beach

_**Murder in spring**_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own nothing 'cept the plot._**

* * *

**I**t's springtime again. God, I hate this time of year! It was springtime when she was murdered… I bet you don't know what happened, so I guess I will have to explain it to you…

* * *

**I**t was around this time of year, when everyone heard the news. My best friend, Karen, had been murdered. Yes, murdered! It had been my mother to discover her body as well. I was the very first person she told.

"Popuri, you're friend has been murdered! Karen's dead!" My mother, Lillia, cried as she approached our Poultry Farm. I turned chalk white when I heard this. I asked her to take me to where she was found. She took me by the hand and took me to the beach. I saw Karen lying right in the middle of the beach, three bullet wounds piercing her chest. I started to cry.

"Does… Does Rick know yet?" I asked her. Mom shook her head. I nodded, and walked out of the beach. I walked back home to find Rick. He was feeding the chickens. I walked towards him slowly.

"Hey, Popuri, what's wrong?" Rick asked me, noticing I was crying.

"Karen… She's been murdered." I whispered. Rick just took a step back, shaking his head.

"No, she can't be dead… Are you sure it's her?" Rick asked. I nodded.

"I saw her with my own eyes. Mom discovered her." I replied. Rick began to cry. He ran into the house, slamming the door behind him. I stood there a while longer, staring at the ground, thoughts and memories of Karen racing throughout my mind.

"Hey, Popuri!" A voice from behind me said, waking me up from my trance. I turned around to see my friend Jill.

"Hey, what's the matter? Did you get in a fight with Rick or something?" She asked.

"No… It has nothing to do with him. It's about Karen…" I said, my words catching in my throat.

"What's wrong, you can tell me." I began to shake violently.

"Some… Some cold, heartless person has murdered her!" I shouted. I then collapsed, sobbing. Jill's eyes widened.

"How many people know?" She asked.

"You, Rick, Mom, and I. That's it, as far as I know." I replied.

"Well, I think we should go and talk to Harris, let's go." Jill told me, picking me up. As we walked away from the Poultry Farm, Gray walked out of the blacksmith shop.

"Hey, what's wrong you guys? Something happen?" Gray asked, concerned.

"Come, we'll show you." Jill said. I lead the way to the beach, and showed them Karen. Gray shook his head and looked again.

"Who… who did this…?" He asked angrily. We shook our heads, telling him we didn't know.

"Let's go see Harris; he might be able to catch the killer." Jill said firmly, walking toward the Mayors house. We walked inside to find my mom already telling him about Karen's murder.

"Popuri told us what happened." Jill explained.

"Right, we better go check out that body." Harris said.

"Hello, are we having a party or something? What's everyone standing at the Mayors house for?" I black haired woman by the name of Manna asked.

"Manna, go spread the news. Karen was just murdered, her body found at Mineral Beach." Harris explained. Manna looked frightened, then sympathetic.

"Ahh, I shall. What a terrible tragedy. Do we know who the murderer is yet? How many people know?"

"Gray, Jill, Popuri, Lillia, Mayor Thomas, Rick, and I know about the murder. As for who did it, we are still clueless." Manna nodded and walked over to the town square.

* * *

**W**ithin a half an hour flat, everyone in Mineral town knew about Karen's death. Harris had investigated the body, confirming that she was indeed murdered. Jeff and Sasha, Karen's parents, were devastated. Harris decided to call up the city police.

"No, we must keep to ourselves. We can handle finding this murderer on our own." Sasha told him.

"Well, I guess we'll need to make our own team of investigators. I will lead it. Who wants to join?" Harris asked. I felt I needed to help Karen in any way possible, so I was the first to join. Mom wanted to join, but Dr. Tim told her she needed to rest. Soon Gray and Jill asked to join, followed by Mary and Cliff. Everyone else decided it to be too dangerous, except Ann, but Doug and Cliff told her not to do it. Harris told us to go home and rest for the day; we would need all the energy we could get. I walked home. I found Rick standing in front of the fire place, staring at the burnt coals.

"Hey, Rick… We're going to find who did this, I promise." I said. Rick just nodded. I walked upstairs to my room. I flopped on my bed.

"_Don't worry Karen, we'll find who killed you…"_ I thought as I drifted off into a deep sleep.


	2. Investigations Begins

_**Murder in spring**_

**_Disclaimer: I still don't own nothing, 'cept the plot._**

* * *

**I** woke up the next morning at seven o' clock. I quickly got dressed and headed over to the Spring Farm, the one that Jill ran. I knocked on her door. A very tired looking Jill answered.

"Hey, we have to go and investigate. Let's get everyone else and meet at the murder scene." I told her. Jill nodded and told me she'd be ready in a sec. Soon we were walking towards the Inn to get Gray and Cliff. We saw Mary and Gray outside the Inn.

"Hey guys, where's Cliff?" Jill asked.

"We aren't totally sure, so we were heading towards the Aja Winery." Mary explained.

"So, he's not inside?"

"Nope, or at least Gray didn't see him." We all went to the Winery. I knocked on the door. Duke answered the door and asked what the matter was.

"Do you know where Cliff is?" Gray asked.

"Yes, he said he went to the Supermarket." Duke said.

"Thanks." I said as we walked to the Supermarket. Just as we were rounding the corner by the Library, Cliff ran right into me.

"Oops! Sorry Popuri!" He apologized.

"It's alright, just make sure to look where you're going from now on!" I said, getting up.

"Let's go to the scene. I wanna get some clues!" Jill said, running off in the direction of the beach.

* * *

"**S**o, that's how Karen died, eh?" Cliff said. Mary and Cliff hadn't seen Karen's body yet.

"Who should be in charge of the investigation here? Yes, Harris is in charge of the _team _but we need a leader for this section of the investigation." Mary said.

"Well, why doesn't Popuri? She and Karen _were _best friends since they were 5, and she's a very good leader." Jill suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Ok, I will do it. Now, I think we should have everyone look for one clue each. That will give us a goal, thus making it easier to reach the goal. Then once we have our clues we will all come up with ways that the murder could have happened. Also, if the murderer was good, the might have cleaned up after themselves, so we might not even find a clue. If this is the case, we will investigate the body and try to figure out a way the murderer could have killed Karen. Get it?" I explained. They all nodded. I smiled and we got to work.

"So, how did everyone do?" I asked once we were all done searching.

"I did ok; I found five bullet shells over here. Come on, I'll show you guys." Mary said, walking a few feet away from the body. We followed and Gray confirmed that those were from a gun.

"How would you know that, Gray?" Jill asked.

"In the city, there are gun stores. Some girl went in there and bought a gun. Turned out she was off to kill someone. She never did, but she fired a few bullets, and that kind of bullet shells were on the ground at the scene of the crime." He explained.

"Ok, so we know someone fired a gun from over here somewhere, what else do we know?" I asked.

"I know that the murderer was a girl." Jill said. She told us that near the dock she had found some earrings that looked like they belonged to a girl. She showed us the earrings.

"No, that can belong to a boy as well, but it is a clue." Mary told us, shaking her head.

"Maybe we could check it for finger prints?" Cliff suggested.

"Yes, we'll give them to Harris. I found something as well. I found something over there, but I can tell what it is." I said. I showed them this black thing in between some rocks.

"Hmm, that looks like a piece of fabric to me." Jill said.

"We'll give this to Harris as well." I said. Cliff put the two things inside two separate plastic bags, making sure he didn't contaminate the evidence.

"Does anyone have anything else?" I asked. Gray and Cliff shook their heads.

"Ha, the girls found all the evidence." Jill laughed.

"Karen was murdered, and you're cracking jokes?" Gray asked.

"Now, let's figure out a way the murderer could have killed Karen." I said.

"Well, I have a theory." Jill said.

"Ok, explain." Gray said.

"Well, what could have happened was that he or she kidnapped Karen. He or she then took her to the beach, but when she was going by the rocks, a piece of his or her clothing could have ripped off. Then he or she could have taken her to an empty building, and put her in there. While he or she was taking Karen to the building, an earring could have fallen from him or her. Then, Karen could have escaped the empty building, but he or she could have heard her, thus firing a gun at her. Two of them must have missed, because there are five bullet shells and Karen only has three bullet wounds. Then he or she could somehow clean up the blood and dispose of the bloody things somewhere, most likely the ocean!" Jill explained. I noticed Gray looking at Jill, as if he was suspecting something.

"Well, everything you said matches the evidence, except the building, and the way the blood was dealt with." Mary explained. Then I had an idea.

"I know what building they could have used! Kai's Seaside Lodge! He's not here, because it's spring." I said. Kai had been my boyfriend for a year, and then he broke up with me. I'm still not sure why, but I don't care anymore.

"Yes, but he locks up his shop at the end of summer." Cliff reminded me.

"Then someone probably broke the lock somehow." I said, running to Kai's Seaside Lodge. Sure enough, the lock was broken.

"Hey, look! There are two bullet marks in the side of the building." Gray pointed out.

"How about Jill and I investigate inside here, and you three investigate some more out there." I said.

"Ok, tell us if you get something." Mary said. I flicked on the light and looked around.

"Hey Popuri, look over here! I found something I think." Jill said. We walked over to the counter. On top of the counter was a piece of rope, with a piece of purple fabric on it.

"He or she must have tied Karen up somehow, then she broke free of the rope, but some of her vest got ripped off." I said. We went outside and told the others of our discovery.

"Yes, some of her vest is missing, I checked the body over." Mary confirmed. Cliff looked at his watch.

"Wow, it's almost two o' clock. I think we should stop investigating for the day." Cliff said.

"Ok, but how about Popuri and Mary sleepover at my place, so we can discuss the murder?" Jill suggested.

"Ok, we can do that." Mary replied.

"Ok, but first we need to take this evidence to Harris, and we still need to put the rope in a plastic bag." I said. Cliff went and put the rope and fabric in bags. We all went to find Harris. Gray gave him the evidence.

"Good investigating, now I will analyze this for finger prints. Now, I want you guys to try and figure out who it could be. Use your heads and you will figure this out." Harris said. We walked out of the house.

"Ok, Popuri, you got any plans?" Gray asked.

"Yes, I do actually. Gray and Cliff, you guys will try and figure out who did it, and Mary, Jill and I will do the same. You guys will be at the Inn; we girls will be at Jill's place. If you think you know exactly who it is, feel free to come to Jill's, then we can all try to figure it out. Don't forget that there are people who aren't here, and also think of anyone who would have a grudge against Karen, and why. Also, go to Manna if you need any help, she is, after all, the one who knows everything and anything!" I told them.

"Alright, bye girls." Cliff said, he and Gray walking to the Inn, while Jill, Mary and I headed to Jill's place.


	3. Murder Talk at the Sleepover

_**Murder in spring**_

**_Disclaimer: You know the deal, I don't own anything but the plot!_**

* * *

"**O**k, everything is set up for the sleepover!" Jill said. We were already in our pajamas, so we climbed into our sleeping bags and started munching on the popcorn in front of us. 

"So, who do you think it could be?" Mary asked.

"Well, we can't say if we don't know who's here, who's not, and so on. Jill, go and get some paper and a pen. I'll write down a list of all the people in Mineral Town." I said. Jill went to find the requested items. She came back and handed me the paper and pen. I wrote the following:

Jill

Me (Popuri)

Rick

Mom (Lillia)

Siberia

Barley

May

Kai

Zach

Won

Ann

Gray

Cliff

Doug

Manna

Duke

Anna

Basil

Mary

Ellen

Stu

Mayor Thomas

Harris

Karen

Sasha

Jeff

Elli

Doctor

Carter

Gotz

"Whoa… I didn't realize that there were so many people in Mineral Town!" Jill whispered.

"Well, it doesn't seem like a lot at first glance ya know." Mary told her. Jill just nodded.

"So, let's cross off people who aren't here first." I said.

"Kai isn't here, because it's spring. Won left two weeks before the murder to find some more items, so he isn't here." Jill said.

"My dad left to go and publish some more of his books." Mary added.

"Ok, so Kai, Won, or Basil couldn't have done it. Karen's the victim, obviously she didn't do it! Carter's away in the city to visit a friend, so he couldn't have done it. Now, those are all the people who aren't here. How about people who are unable to do it?" I said.

"May and Stu are too young, they couldn't have done it, and Ellen is too old, she can't even walk, let alone murder someone!" Jill said. I crossed those names off the list.

"Anyone else?" I asked.

"Siberia isn't the murder, same with Barley, they are also too old." Mary added.

"My mother couldn't have done it, she's too sick." I said.

"Ok, those are the people who can't do it period. Now, everyone else on the list is able to do it." Jill said.

"Yes. Now, do we know if anyone has an alibi?" I asked.

"Yes, Ann does. She said that she was at Elli's place the whole time, so we can cross them off. Mom even saw them at Elli's house, so not them." Mary said.

"Ok. Hey, Jill, you know when you were coming up with an idea of how the murder could have been done? You described it with such detail, and Gray started giving you looks, like he was thinking _you _had done it!" I explained.

"Wow, Gray being suspicious of me. Hmm… well, you know, anyone on this team _could _have done it, so I don't blame him." Jill said. I nodded.

"I have an alibi. Rick." I said.

"Ok, what happened?" Mary asked.

"Well, Rick and I had been with my mom. She had a terrible cough, so we were looking after her. So, I have two alibis!" I said. I crossed the names off the list.

"Ok, I have another person who couldn't have done it. Actually, three! Mayor Thomas, Sasha, and Jeff. For Jeff and Sasha, they are Karen's parents! For Mayor Thomas, he's the mayor, why would he kill anyone?" Jill said.

"Good point, I'll cross them off." I replied.

"Ok, I can't think of anyone else who couldn't have done it." Mary said.

"Well, let's think of anyone who would _want _to kill her." I suggested.

"Personally, I can't think of anyone, oh except maybe Duke, but that would only be because she beat him at a drinking contest. I even got the honor of taking him home." Jill said, slightly irritated from the memory. Mary and I giggled. We soon stopped, for Jill was giving us the death glare. We sat there in silence for a while.

"It could have been Gray…" Mary suddenly said. Jill and I looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Well, he could have killed her. It's easy to think it. I even have some evidence. Popuri, remember when you said Gray was giving Jill strange looks? Well, you could have misread his expression. You might have _thought _he was looking suspiciously at Jill, but it could have been a look of fright, that being exactly what he did, get it? Plus, a long time ago, he and Karen were a couple. Karen broke up with him, and he was really hurt by it, thus giving him a motive. The opportunity would have been that night. He knows it's easy to sneak into her house, and her and her parents are very heavy sleepers!" Mary explained. It made perfect sense. Everything Mary had said was very true, or could it be the she was trying to put Gray out there, thus covering her up?

"_This detective work is __**so **__confusing!_" I thought to myself.

"Well, all those points are true. We should keep him in mind, but we cannot tell him or Cliff tomorrow!" Jill said seriously. We all nodded in agreement. I looked at the clock on Jill's wall.

"Oh my, it's a 1 o' clock am! We have to sleep right now!" I explained.

"Ok, goodnight Mary, goodnight Popuri." Jill said, crawling under her sleeping bag.

"Goodnight Jill, goodnight Popuri." Mary replied.

"Goodnight girls." I said. I crawled under the covers. My mind was still reeling with possibilities of who could have done it when I fell asleep.


	4. Of Murders and Arrests

_**Murder in spring**_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own a thing, except blah blah blah..._**

* * *

The next morning, I was the second person to get up. Jill had already awaked, and was going over the list we had made the previous night.

"Hey Jill, what are you doing?" I asked her. She turned around and looked at me.

"I'm just trying to figure out if what Mary had said about Gray last night is true… It could be she's just trying to cover up her own tracks, but… Oh, this detective work is _so _confusing!" Jill whispered.

"_Ha, Jill read my mind!_" I thought.

"What do you think about what Mary said, Popuri?" Jill asked.

"Same as you, detective work is confusing." I agreed. Jill got up and went to her washroom. I took this time to get my sleeping bag packed up, and my stuff together so I could go and get changed. Soon Jill came out, and I went into the washroom to change. I came out, and Mary was up.

"Morning Mary." I said. She smiled and waved.

"Hey, do you know where my glasses are?" She asked. I saw them and handed them to her.

"Thanks." She said. I just smiled as a reply. Mary went and got dressed and packed up her things.

"Let's go see the boys and tell them what we know." Jill suggested. Mary and I nodded. Before we left, Jill grabbed the list. We walked out of Jill's house and towards the Inn. As soon as we walked past the blacksmith shop, Gray and Cliff came into view. All of us ran to each other.

"Hey guys, did you figure out anything?" Jill asked.

"Yes actually. We figure that Lillia, Siberia, Barley, May, Kai, Won, Basil, Ellen, Stu, Sasha, Jeff, and Carter couldn't have done it. As for everyone else…" Cliff explained.

"We have all those people, but we also have Popuri, Rick, Ann, Mayor Thomas, and Elli. They all have alibis, except Mayor Thomas, but he's the Mayor for crying out loud!" Mary told them.

"So, what do you think we should do now?" Gray asked.

"I think we should go talk to Harris. He might have the finger prints results back." I suggested. The others agreed. We walked to the house.

"Oh, hello team." Harris said when we walked in. 

"Harris, have you finished with the finger prints?" Jill asked.

"Yes, but I can only see the leader of the investigation and one other person."

"I'm the leader, sir. I'll take Mary with me." I said. Harris nodded and told the others to wait outside. Gray closed the door. Harris went to the back room and got the finger prints results. Soon, he was back.

"So Harris, what does it say?" Mary asked. Harris read it for a while.

"Oh my, the finger prints… That can't be right… can it?" Harris said to himself.

"Harris, what is it?" I asked.

"Interesting… we might have it, but first, do you know who can't have done it?" Harris asked us.

"One moment." I said. I opened the door and asked for the list of people. Jill handed it to me. I closed the door again and handed the list to Harris.

"Hmm… Oh my, the person isn't crossed off on the list! Then… we might have it…" Harris said.

"Harris, just spit it out!" Mary said, clearly irritated.

"Oh, ok. The finger prints _and _the list say it's… Gray." He said, whispering when he said Gray's name. Mary and I looked at each other.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but, we have some evidence that supports that." Mary said.

"Mary, you go and tell him, I will wait here." I said. Harris took Mary to the back room. I pressed my ear against the door. From the other side of the door, I could hear the other's talking.

"Hey, did you hear who it was?" Cliff's voice asked.

"No, Harris must have whispered it." Gray's voice responded.

"Oh, I wanted to know!" Jill's voice said, quite frustrated.

"… I have the feeling someone's listening to our conversation…" Cliff said. I giggled.

"Did you hear that, sounded like it was coming from inside." Jill said. I opened the door.

"Ha, you guys sounded funny! Good one Cliff, you were right on that one!" I laughed. They all glared at me.

"What? I was curious! Besides, I guess you guys aren't supposed to know or something!" I replied the glares. Jill sighed.

"Well, I guess you can't know everything." She said.

"You're right, that's Mary's job!" Gray joked. We laughed.

"Hey, just because I'm smart doesn't mean you get to make fun of me!" An angry Mary said from behind us. Harris waved goodbye to us as we closed the door.

"So Mary, can you tell us who it is?" Cliff asked.

"Uh… I'm sorry, I can't, but I need to talk to Popuri for a sec." Mary said, dragging me away. She pulled me to the library.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I know you won't like this, but… Harris is going to make the arrest this afternoon." Mary whispered. I gasped.

"That's terrible, but, don't you need _2 _people to make an arrest?" I asked.

"Yes… That's where the worst part comes in. You see, since we are the only ones that know about who it is… Harris is making _us _arrest Gray!" Mary whispered, tears forming in her eyes. Everyone knew she had a huge crush on Gray, everyone _except_ Gray. I gasped again. She hugged me, and I hugged her back.

"I tried to tell him that we couldn't do such a thing, but he ignored me!" Mary said, tears now streaming down her face.

"Do you know if Harris will be there?" I asked. Mary shook her head.

"He said he wanted us to do it alone." She responded.

"Let's go back to the others." I said. Mary nodded. She dried her eyes, and we walked back. I looked at her, and I noticed she was staring at Gray. Mary suddenly burst into tears and ran to the library, slamming the door shut behind her.

"What's wrong with her?" Gray asked, quite concerned.

"Oh, it's just her emotions catching up to her, right Poprui?" Jill said. I couldn't help it either. I burst into tears and dashed towards my house.

"Wait, Popuri!" Jill screamed as I round the corner by the church. I ran all the way home, and I don't think I even looked back. I ran into my house, dashed up the stairs, into my room and sat down on my bed, tears running down my cheek.

* * *

I guess I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remember was Harris and Mary standing over me. Mary's eyes were bloodshot, so I guess she must have been crying.

"Popuri, we are going to make the arrest now." Mary told me. I sat up and nodded.

"Harris, just come with us, please." I begged. Harris shook his head. I glared at him.

"You know what? I don't even think he did it! Why would he? He got over her, so it can't be him." I said, very, very angry.

"Yes, but the finger prints clearly read that it was Gray!" Harris told me.

"Well…" I said, trying to find the right words to say. I wanted to defend Gray. He couldn't have murdered Karen… He just couldn't have.

"Popuri, you're going to do this either way. Besides, if I'm wrong and it isn't him, it may actually help us out to find the real murderer." Harris said. I looked at the hard wood floors beneath me. The tears were coming back, I could feel them. I knew I had to do it, so I stood up and nodded.

"Let's… Let's go." I finally said. We walked down the stairs and outside. We all saw Gray enter the blacksmith. We walked to the front of the store.

"I'll wait outside. Here are some hand cuffs." He said, handing me the cuffs. I began to feel sick to the stomach as I walked towards the door of the blacksmith.

"Oh Mary, I don't think I can do this." I said.

"Don't worry Popuri, be strong." Mary told me. I nodded and pushed open the door. I noticed that Siberia wasn't there. Gray turned to look at us.

"Oh, hey girls, are we starting investigating again?" Gray asked. Then I saw him look down at what was in my hands.

"Uh… Popuri, why do you have hand cuffs?" Gray asked. I looked down.

"I'm sorry Gray… All of the evidence points to you." I said walking up to him. Then I guess that's when it clicked in his mind that Mary and I were about to arrest him.

"Whoa, I didn't do it ok!" Gray said as I put the hand cuffs on him.

"I'm sorry Gray! We have to! We are under orders by Harris!" Mary told him. Gray didn't speak to us the whole walk back to the Mayors house. We walked in and went to the back room. The back room of the Mayors house was kind of like a jail. It had cement blocks as the walls and flooring, with bars on the door and window. Harris took off the hand cuffs and put him into the cell. I told Mary to go inform Cliff, and I would go and inform Jill. I walked to her house.

"Hey Popuri, what's up?" Jill asked, noticing I was really shaken up.

"Jill… The person who the finger prints pointed to was Gray… Harris just made Mary and I arrest him, and he's already in the cell." I whispered. Jill gasped and hugged me.

"Oh Popuri… It couldn't have been him, it just couldn't!" Jill told me.

"I know…" Was all I said.

"Now, I have a plan! I will go and investigate the body some more, and you go and talk to Ann and Doug, but we can't tell anyone about this." Jill told me. I nodded.

* * *

"So Ann, who do you think it could be?" I asked once I got to the Inn. I took a sip of my grape juice.

"Not me, but I don't know why, but Anna seems to be acting really strange." Ann informed me.

"Uh, her daughter is working on a murder case. I think I'd be worried to Ann."

"Right, good point." Suddenly the phone rang.

"I got it!" Ann yelled, picking up the phone.

"Hello? It's for you Popuri, I think its Jill, and she sounds desperate." Ann told me.

"Hello, Jill? It's Popuri." I told her.

"Popuri, guess what? I know who the _real _murder is! I over heard a conversation and it _isn't _Gray. The real murder is…" Jill began, when inside the phone, gunshots rang out, and the line went dead. I slammed the phone down.

"Hey, what happened?" Ann asked.

"Ann, quick, get Cliff and Mary. I think Jill was just murdered."


	5. Killer Code's and Innocence

**_Murder In Spring_**

* * *

_**AN: Hello people! This will actually have a change to things I say before I give you the story! I'm gonna do that thing where I answer reviews! Isn't that wonderful? Yay me! Ok, so here it is:**_

**_kelley28: I love to torture you though! Mwahahahaha! Sorry. Trust me, you won't believe who it is, and why! I've got it all figured out! Plz review again!_**

**_memekabss: Yes Jill can get murdered, so there! Anyways, you're gonna have to wait and see who the murderer is! Plz review again!_**

**_TygerEyes 1.0: Thank you for the compliment! This is my best story yet, I think! Plz review again!_**

**_Gamerzgal: Tee-hee. I'm not a killer, don't worry. I do know who did kill Karen, though! It's really, really unexpected, unless I made it too obvious during this chapter :D! Plz review again!_**

**_Wing Omega: You never know who it could be... Plz review again!_**

**_Awesome Rapidash: _****_Oh, I'm sorry to keep you waiting! Yeah, they got the wrong person, they discuss that a lot in this next chapter! Plz review again!_**

**_The Scarlet Sky: "Holy Fish!" That was really funny! I'm not really into mystery shows, though I used to watch "Medium" a lot! But trust me, these murder's were definatly no accident! Plz review again!_**

**_So, that was fun! Anyways, plz, all of you mentioned above and anyone else, plz become loyal reviewers, if you're not already, like Awesome Rapidash who was the first one to review my story, and memekabss who has also reviewed more then once! Ok, on with the Disclaimer and the story! :End AN_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, that's Natsume who owns that, and I don't own "The Eyes of The Dragon" (which I am currently reading, and it's very good!), "Pet Sematary", "Cujo", "The Shining", or the "It" clown, that's Stephen King who owns them, and I suggest you never read the books, 'cept the one about the Dragon, coz it's good, and now, I will shut up, and let you read the story!_**

* * *

**I** ran to the beach as fast as I could. When I got there, I saw Jill lying on her back, facing towards the buildings, a bullet wound in her chest. 

"Jill!" I called, running to her. I knelt down beside her.

"Get… her… she's the… one…" Jill said.

"Who is it Jill?" Just then, I saw Ann, Mary, and Cliff enter the beach.

"What does… Cliff, Duke and… wine have in common…?" Jill chocked out. I thought about this for a moment.

"Tell Gray… I'm sorry… for what… she… has done… to him… and tell Mary… I'm sorry… I didn't read… more books… and tell..."She began, but before she could finish her sentence, Jill breathed her final breath. Tears welled up in my eyes.

"No, Jill!" I whispered.

"Jill!" Cliff, Ann, and Mary gasped, and they joined me beside Jill.

"Who did this to her…!" Ann asked.

"I'm… I'm not sure. She did give us a few clues as to who the murder is, though." I told them.

"What did she say?" Cliff asked.

"Well, when I was talking on the phone to her, just before she got shot, she said that she overheard who the real murder was, and that it wasn't Gray! When I got here also, she said "get her, she's the one", so obviously it's a girl, automatically ruling out Gray, so that's another reason why it's not him. Then she said something really weird. It was a riddle of some kind. She said "what does Cliff, Duke and wine have in common" and that kind of freaked me out." I paused at that point.

"I don't understand it either." Cliff said, clearly very puzzled.

"Wait… I _do _get it! Think, where can you find Cliff, Duke and wine, at the same time?" Mary asked.

"Well, Duke and I work at the winery… Oooohh! I get it now." Cliff said.

"So… the murder has a connection to the winery?" Ann asked.

"Yep, we just don't know how they have a connection. There is a list of people, excluding the people we already ruled out." Mary told us.

"Well, who are on the list of people?"

"I'll list them all very carefully. Hand me a piece of paper." I reached in my pocket and grabbed a spare piece of paper I kept just in case. Soon Mary had written the list, and she handed it to me. It read the following:

Manna

Anna

Sasha

"The Gossiping Girls, well, excluding Jill for obvious reasons." Mary said, glancing sadly at her friend.

"Yeah, that's a whole lot of people Mary, you could have just said their names! Oh! That reminds me of something else Jill said! She said "Tell Gray I'm sorry for what she's done to him, tell Mary I'm sorry I didn't read more books, and tell..." Then she died…" I told them. The others looked at me.

"Hmm… well, she shouldn't be sorry for not reading enough books. I mean, she read every book in the library, even the books she didn't like! Though there was one book she had for an extremely long amount of time, she said that she kept lending it to Manna." Mary explained.

"What was the book called?" I asked.

"It was called 'The Eyes of The Dragon' by Stephen King. He wrote it for his daughter because he normally writes really scary books. You read a couple of his books Ann. They were 'Pet Sematary', 'Cujo', and 'The Shining'."

"Oh, I _still _get nightmares about that stupid dog Cujo… he scared me a lot, more then the… no wait, the It clown was scarier." Ann said, shuddering. I raised an eyebrow.

"Oookay then… Anyways, I think that what she said was some kind of riddle, well the book part at least." I told her.

"I agree, but first, let's get Gray out of… the back room of the Mayor's house." Mary said. We all giggled (except Cliff, he chuckled, seeing as how guy's can't giggle). We sadly got up from Jill's body, and walked to the Mayor's home. When we got there, we saw Harris walking towards the library.

"Harris! Come here please!" I called out. He turned.

"Ah, Popuri! What brings you here?" He asked me.

"There has been another murder at the beach, and it was Jill. That is not the only reason we are here, though. We know for a fact that it wasn't Gray who murdered them. For starters, Gray was in… Jail when Jill was killed, and when Popuri was talking to Jill, she said that Jill said "get her" and stuff like that." Ann explained.

"What we are trying to say, is could you set him free now?" Cliff asked. Harris stood there for a moment. Finally he responded, but the word that came out of his mouth would shock us all.

"No."

"But why not! He did nothing wrong, the evidence proves it!" I exploded. Harris had done stupid things in the past, but this had gone too far.

"I can keep him there." Harris told us coolly.

"Not when he's innocent, and you _know _he's innocent!" Cliff countered.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to make a rule on that then. The official rule is that the police officer of this town, that's me, can keep anyone under arrest, even when they are proven innocent." I stared at that man in disbelief. The next moment shocked me even more then Harris's strange behavior, though.

Mary punched him in the face.

"Oww!" He yelled, lying on the ground and holding his left eye. He quickly got up.

"Mary, I'm placing you under arrest for assaulting an officer." He said as he grabbed his cuffs.

"I don't give a damn about you anymore, _officer_. You're holding an innocent man in prison, for no reason at all. What's worse is that I'm in love with that man, and he doesn't even know it!" Mary screeched. Then she turned on her heel and started walking towards the clinic. Harris pushed by us and ran to Mary. He grabbed her arms and pushed her against the side of the clinic. Suddenly, the door opened, and Elli's fawn colored eyes peered outside.

"What's going on? Oh my." Elli said once she saw Harris arresting Mary.

"Elli, talk some sense into this man! He is keeping Gray under arrest, even though there are tones of evidence saying he's innocent!" Ann told her. Elli's wide eyes narrowed to a glare.

"I see, and why is he arresting Mary?" Elli asked, clearly mad at Harris.

"She punched him in the face, and for good reason I should say." I replied. Elli nodded and stepped out of the clinic.

"Harris, I don't think you're father would like this, keeping an innocent man in prison, and arresting a girl because she punched you in the face. What's more, _officer_, is that she did it because, as oblivious Gray is to her obvious signs of affection, she was protecting him, as you protected Aja when Gray broke her heart, and you know what? I think you still hold that grudge against Gray, and that's why you don't want him to be set free! Well, Harris, I believe I shall pay a short visit to Mayor Thomas now!" Elli said, her voice getting gradually louder as she spoke, until she was yelling. She then walked slowly to the Mayor's house. Harris didn't do a thing. Elli raised a hand to knock, but stopped as she saw that Harris had let go of Mary.

"Don't you dare move." He said. He then walked over to the Mayor's house, and entered, locking the door behind him. Mary walked over to Elli and hugged her. I felt so relieved that Elli had opened the door, because if she hadn't, Mary would be joining Gray at this moment. I looked up at the bared window to see Gray's aqua eyes staring out. I smiled, and waved. His cheeks grew crimson and he left the window. I walked over to Mary and Elli, and hugged them both.

"Hey Mary, I saw you're boyfriend looking out the window at us." I told her. Mary's cheeks flushed a rosy color.

"I'm glad he was watching." She whispered. I looked at Elli, and mouthed a 'Thank you' to her. She merely nodded. Finally the hug ended. I looked around and saw Cliff and Ann watching us. I just gave them my biggest grin, and they smiled back.

"So… let's continue this investigation!" I suggested. Mary nodded, Cliff smiled and Ann and Elli just looked at me.

"Are we apart of the investigation now?" Ann asked. I nodded yes. Ann and Elli smiled.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" She said, and we headed for the library.


End file.
